News
Special day with Ray Schmidt learning about Great Lakes Steelhead. Ray guides the famous rivers of western Michigan: The Big Manistee and the Pere Marquette.
Come to our new Store on Saturday March 20th, eat some chili and watch Ray tie flies.
We are hosting a trip May 1st – 4rth. If you are going then this is a primer. If you are interested in the trip this is homework!
We had Ray in the Lafayette store to many times to count and is probably the most popular guest we have ever had in our store. Well we have decided that it is time to have Ray in our new store. He will be in our new store Saturday March 13th for a seminar on spring Steelhead and Trout on the Big Manistee River. We love this river and the big wild Steelhead that makes this a special fishery. We have hosted a bunch of trips to Ray’s place and will again be doing so this spring, more on that later. This will be open to everyone and is free. We will make this a “Day with Ray” and have food and drink. Maybe some white chili like the old days in Lafayette.
Big Manistee Hosted trip to Schmidt Outfitters
We have done this a bunch of times and really miss not being on this wonderful river. As many of you know who have fished it. It is the premier wild Steelhead river in the Great Lakes and is the location of my personal best Steelhead. I landed an 18.5 pound 38 inch wild buck back in 2002. The spring fishing for Steelhead is phenomenal and we will be fishing with the guys who know it better than anyone. There is also fabulous trout fishing during this time as well. Many of you will want to do both in the same day and there is not many places where that can be done.
If you have ever been to Ray’s you know what wonderful lodging and guides he has. This is a terrific trip and a great bargain. We still have not worked out the details but will this coming week and open it up to 8 to 10 spots. We are looking forward to having Ray in the store as well before to talk about the trip and give you the best possible time to ask questions if you are interested in the trip.
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Don’t forget we are open on Sundays now for the remainder of the holiday season. Come in and watch the Colts game on the shop TV and relax and shop. I can’t think of anything better than hanging out in the store, watching the Colts game and maybe get a bit to eat. I am thinking Pizza maybe! Anyway come in and hang out and take advantage of some screaming good deals for this weekend.
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, Wildcat Creek Outffiters, Zionsville Indiana
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We are continuing our Patagonia 20% off sale through Sunday the 6th. We are getting a fresh shipment of Patagonia on Friday that shipment and any special orders now through Sunday get free shipping and 20% off. Several of you have already taken advantage of this and several of you are planning on taking advantage of it. This sale will end Sunday and you will not see it for the rest of the year so take advantage of it. This includes anything Patagonia makes. Take a look at the website and anything they have will be cheaper through us for this limited time.
Other Specials
We have other specials with Redington rods and clothing that will also run out this Sunday. We also have specials on kayaks and a few other things so don’t forget to stop by between now and Sunday to take advantage of it all. Even though this is the biggest event of the year here remember we are the only ones with a parking lot and it just for Wildcat Creek Customers so if you come to our store you will have parking. We have 20% off select rods, reels and clothing through this weekend. One rod we think many of you should try is the CT Classic Trout Rod regularly $160.00 on sale in our store for $129.00. We are officially stuffed in the store with Redington so come and enjoy looking at the new stuff and get a great deal at the same time.
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, Patagonia, Redington, Sale, Specials, Wildcat Creek Outffiters, Zionsville Indiana
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We love this event and it is the biggest of the year in downtown Zionsville. These kinds of events are why we came here in the first place. It is a cool weekend with lots going on for the kids. It will include all sorts of cool stuff in the shops and on the streets of downtown Zionsville. Our hours for the event are 9:00 am to whenever we leave. We will open on Sunday at 12:00 noon and close at 5:00 pm. The parade with Santa Claus will be on Sunday. Remember our 20% off Patagonia Sale ends Sunday!!!
Special Event – Christmas Open House
Meet and Greet Night Thursday December 10th 6:00 pm to 9:00pm
Meet and Greet night. We were planning on having an special extended hours get together Thursday evening but have decided to move it to next Thursday December 10th. We will have some cider for you to partake of and an opportunity to see the whole crew in the store at once. We will have Eric Berger and me here to answer travel questions. Marc Dixon will be here to talk kayaks; Scott Gobel will be here to answer any questions about the upcoming guide season and Mike Exl to answer any questions about Switch or Two Handed rods. This is going to be very casual and it will give you an extra opportunity to come and hang out on an evening other than Saturday, when things are sometimes to busy, and ask questions about whatever you need help with.
We all know it is hard to buy for that fly fishing/outdoors spouse. This is your opportunity to bring a loved one along to show them what you want for Christmas. Or you can treat yourself to a trip, gear or just information for the upcoming season. No pressures just relax with some cider and get into the Christmas spirit. Remember a fly rod says I love you!!!
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, Kayaks, Marc Dixon, Scott Gobel, Two Handed Fly Fishing Rods, Wildcat Creek Outffiters, Zionsville Indiana
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This was the first line on the list before anything else. It is the gold standard for wool and the most requested line in the store we don’t currently carry. Smartwool is not just about socks but underwear and layering in the finest merino wool you can find. We are really excited about this line and it will be in here by Friday. If you want to know more about Smartwool and their products go to www.smartwool.com <http://ezquicklist.com/12all/lt.php?c=2218&m=6227&nl=261&s=1a5a64f71afa027d8dbe01ee0e705677&lid=32373&l=-http--www.smartwool.com/>
We paid close attention to the things many of you told us about Smartwool and made sure we ordered as much of what you asked for as possible. We will not only be stocking the famous Smartwool sock but the microweight, lightweight and midweight layering as well as accessories. We are very excited to have it and it will be out on display for the “Christmas in the Village “this weekend.
We have never carried Buffs and we have had to hear about it for about 2 years. Well finally we broke down and wrote and order. The truth is we all own several of them and should have had them long ago. We won’t have them for a couple of weeks but will have them before Christmas ends. We have ordered the Insect Shield, Cyclone, Windstopper and regular Buffs. We will get another email out soon on this.
That is all we can share for now but know that we will have more news coming and more stuff to add to the store in due time.
MORE TO COME……………………
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, Smartwool, Wildcat Creek Outffiters, Zionsville Indiana
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With all of this comes an expansion plan. It will take a few months to come to fruition but we are moving ahead with our plans for new and exciting lines. We can’t tell you what we are doing yet but except for a couple of new things one big line and one smaller line. Here is what is happening in the next week or two. We aren’t waiting for the new building we are getting started now.
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, wildcat creek outfitters, Zionsville Indiana
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I told you this was going to be big. We are moving Wildcat Creek Outfitters to a new and BIGGER location in Zionsville. I know we just moved a couple of years ago and we love where we are. The problem we have is that we just don’t have any room for expansion and not near enough room for boats/kayaks. Keeping half our kayak inventory in a warehouse is not a good situation. This has become a significant problem and we just haven’t been able to come up with a solution until now. The space we have procured is just around the corner from us and it is significantly bigger than the usable space we have now. It is more of a traditional space with lots of floor space and is more of a box than we have had before. It is going to allow us to expand and bring in additional lines as well as offer improved services in both the kayak shop and the fly shop. Our parking is going to be expanded and it will allow us more room for schools, casting and a place to store our drift boats. We will also have an even larger parking lot than we have now. We will be able to tell you more in the next week, but we have reached an agreement and we have officially notified our current land lord of the move.
Some of you I know love this building and we do as well, but the fact is it is very limiting and we have grown a little frustrated by the shape of the building. All the amenities we have here will be in the new store including a new hang out area that will be much more usable than the one we currently have. We will have about 2800 sq feet for retail as opposed to the 2000 we have now. Our current building is 2600 sq feet but a lot of it is not good retail space. So the new store will have A LOT more room and will be much more user friendly.
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, indiana fly fishing school, Wildcat Creek Outffiters, Zionsville Indiana
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Marc Dixon owner of Eagle Creek Kayaks, the kayak store inside Wildcat Creek Outfitters, have decided to merge the two businesses into one company. We have been working together for over almost 4 years and see this as a natural transition. Marc will now be Vice President of Wildcat Creek Outfitters and will be involved in the day to day operations of Wildcat Creek Outfitters. Chad Miller will remain as President and will still be in charge of the overall day to day operations of Wildcat Creek Outfitters. The name Eagle Creek Kayaks will be dissolved and the inventory and services will be absorbed by Wildcat Creek Outfitters creating one company.
We are absolutely thrilled to have Marc on board. His expertise in kayaking and his overall abilities as a fly angler are a HUGE asset to our newly formed partnership. Marc is obviously going to be the driving force in the kayak business but will also be involved in fly fishing as well as fly fishing travel. Most of you already know Marc very well and you really won’t notice much difference in shop personnel. You will notice some other changes hopefully and we feel Marc will help us be more of what we can become.
Tags: Chad Miller, Eagle Creek Kayaks, Indiana Fly Fishing, Marc Dixon, Wildcat Creek Outffiters, Zionsville Indiana
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We have several big things to announce at Wildcat Creek Outfitters. We have been working on a plan for expansion for about a year. Only recently have we let some of you in on things but not all things regarding our future. We feel that there are several things that need to be addressed in our business and during the last year we have worked diligently to chart a new path. We are and always will be a fly shop; that will never change. We do however believe that diversifying our store in the future is important to making us the one stop shop we desire to be. During the last year everyone has felt the pinch of a very difficult economy and we have not been immune to it. We have however with your help made it through these trying times and are moving forward with our plans. Here is what is happening; we hope you will be as excited as we are about it.
Tags: Chad Miller, Indiana Fly Fishing, wildcat creek outfitters, Zionsville Indiana
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We have been on the water a lot this year and it looks like things are beginning to wind down for our guiding for the year. It has been both frustrating and glorious all in the same season sometimes in the same week. We started the season with terrible conditions that really never seemed to relent into late June. We have had a good run of fishing and weather since the early time period spending a lot more of our time on the Tippy than ever before. Here is the latest with the fishing and other sundry items.
Tippecanoe River
We have now seen one of the coldest Octobers in recent memory; this following one of the coldest summers on record and a pretty cold September. You have seen our reports for the Tippy in those months but we are a little behind on our October reports. This October has been a mixed bag of okay fishing and very good fishing. For the most part the cold nights and occasional release of water from the dam has made fishing pretty ordinary most days. We have pretty much fished pink/white half and half's and a new crawdad I have been working on for the Tippy. I have been developing a larger crawdad meant to cover more water than some of the others I have developed over the years. This fly is meant to strip as a streamer, which is really what it is, rather than bottom bouncing or jigging it; most crawdad patterns are not created to cover water. There is a reason I am trying to develop more crawdad patterns to strip. Most crawdads, including mine, have an inherent problem. They are most all built to fish in a deep hole almost vertically. I wanted a crawdad that could cover more water horizontally and had a larger profile that fish might see well at distance or in fast water. So I have been experimenting a little lately and have come up with a new streamer crawdad that has worked very well over the last several weeks. If you are interested in seeing it come by the store and I will show you how to tie it. We are probably going to do very limited trips for the rest of the year because of the temps and leaf invasion that will make fishing the Tippy harder. That doesn't mean we won't fish, the fishing can be pretty good all winter long. It just means we are getting near the end of our guiding for the season.
Scott was out on Thursday and did an upper section float and had a marvelous day with lots of fish coming to the surface. His day was an example of what is possible with a couple days of warm weather.
So to recap the year on the Tippy I would consider it one of the best years in my 14 years of guiding. We probably numbers wise saw more fish than last year and bigger fish were about the same. We caught lots of different fish this year as usual and the Musky sightings were a very interesting development. Hooking a few of them was like an out of body experience. I still can’t believe there are Muskies in the river I fished as a kid.
I want to thank you all for booking your trips on the Tippy this year. The total trips we did on the Tippy this year were way up. We did over 50 trips August through October and they were worth the extra drive to the river for you and us. Not to mention giving Sugar Creek a break is always a good idea.
Regulations for the Tippy
I had the opportunity to speak to the committee where rules and regs start for the state a couple of weeks ago. This committee takes suggestions from the public and forms suggestions to the state for further regulations. While it is not where the rules are made it is an important step to create new ones. I had a few minutes to speak and gave my best shot at further harvest restrictions for Smallmouth specifically in the Tippecanoe River. This committee will meet privately again in December and I would like to do a little more to sway them in the mean time. If you are interested in helping please write an email in support and get it back to us. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! Smallmouth Bass are our greatest asset as fly anglers in the state of Indiana. We need to let the DNR know that the decisions made for Sugar Creek were good and they need to continue down this path. With the help of good friend Rick Cockrum we have already started the momentum with the 20 inch size limit for Sugar Creek. These are our native fish lets give them the respect they deserve.
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